JPH0451163B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a vehicle seat heater device that can be attached to a seat of an automobile or the like to heat the vehicle.

BACKGROUND TECHNOLOGY As shown in FIG. 2, a conventional vehicle seat heater device includes a heater unit 4 mounted on the seat;
The heater unit 5 attached to the back, and the two heater units 4, as shown in FIG.
There is a switch 6 for electrically switching the heating elements 5 in parallel or in series, and this switch 6 makes it possible to select whether the heating is strong or weak.

In addition, the circuit in which these two heater units 4 and 5 are connected in parallel, that is, the strong circuit, is a circuit to obtain a rapid rise when the switch is turned on, and since it is dangerous to use it for a long time, heat the seat The temperature of
When the target hot seat is reached, the entire circuit is turned off.
The thermostat 7 is connected in series to the entire parallel circuit, and the heater unit is connected to the series circuit,
In other words, when the circuit is weak, this thermostat 7
It is designed to avoid this and keep the power on at all times.

As shown in FIG. 4, this thermostat 7 is normally placed in a part other than the heating part of the heater unit 4 due to problems such as the feeling of a foreign body, and an auxiliary heater that is thermally coupled to this thermostat 4 8, and when it reaches a certain set temperature, the circuit is turned off.
It's starting to turn off.

Therefore, when the switch is turned ON, the time required for the surface temperature of the seat to reach the target temperature in the parallel circuit, and when the thermostat 7 reaches the set temperature, the circuit is turned OFF.
It is designed so that the time it takes to do so is the same.

This time depends on the initial temperature of the thermostat 7, the OFF setting temperature, the capacity of the auxiliary heater 8,
It is determined by the surrounding insulation state, and the lower the room temperature, the longer this time will be.The seat surface always turns off after reaching the target temperature. In other words, it served as a timer that depended on room temperature.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in such a conventional seat heater device, if the switch 6 is set to the strong side, that is, when the two heater units 4 and 5 are used in parallel and the thermostat 7 is turned off, the heater The units 4 and 5 are de-energized, causing discomfort due to a rapid temperature drop, and the inconvenience of having to manually switch the switch 6 to the weak side when using the unit continuously.

Also, while using on high, thermostat 7 may
The time it takes to turn off is determined by the initial temperature of the thermostat 7, the OFF temperature, the capacity of the auxiliary heater 8, and the insulation condition of the surrounding area. In particular, the insulation condition of the surrounding area depends on the heater unit. The shape of the seat to which the auxiliary heater 6 is installed differs greatly depending on the material of the outer fabric, etc., and it is necessary to change the capacity of the auxiliary heater 6 for each seat to which the auxiliary heater 6 is installed, making the design extremely time-consuming and difficult to share.

Therefore, the present invention makes it possible to switch from strong to weak at the optimum temperature, and also to allow the same heater unit to be installed in a variety of types of seats.

Means for Solving the Problems The technical means of the present invention for solving the above problems includes a temperature sensing element that detects room temperature, a relay that switches two heater units in series and parallel, and this relay. The control circuit section has a built-in timer whose time is determined based on the signal from the temperature sensing element.

Effect The effect of this technical means is as follows.

In other words, when the switch is turned on, the circuit becomes a parallel circuit, heating the seat in a short time, and
By determining the time until the seat temperature reaches the target temperature at the room temperature at that time using a timer circuit using a temperature detection element, when the seat temperature reaches the target temperature, the circuit is connected from parallel to the target temperature. In series, can be switched automatically.

In addition, according to this technical means, the time for switching the circuit from parallel to series is determined only by the room temperature, so there is no need to design each seat as in the past.

As a result, the two heater units can be switched between parallel and series automatically when the seat surface reaches the target optimum temperature, improving usability and reducing the need for the heater unit and control circuit. It becomes possible to share the information.

Embodiment Hereinafter, an embodiment of the present invention will be described based on the accompanying drawings.

In Fig. 1, 9 and 10 are the seat and back heater units, respectively, 11 and 11' are relays,
12 is a timer circuit, 13 is a temperature detection element such as a thermistor, and 14 is a capacitor.The output time of the timer 12 is set by the resistance of the temperature detection element 13 and the capacitance of the capacitor 14. There is. Therefore, the temperature sensing element 13 is adjusted so that this time is the same as the time taken for the seat surface temperature to reach the target temperature at each room temperature.
By selecting the capacitor 14 and the capacitor 14, the parallel circuit can be automatically switched to the series circuit as soon as the seat surface reaches the target optimum temperature.

As a result, switching from series to parallel can be performed automatically, and the heater units 9 and 10 will no longer be in a non-energized state, allowing comfortable heating at all times and regardless of the type of seat. The heater unit and control circuit can be shared.

Effects of the Invention The present invention attempts to automatically switch to a low power, that is, a series circuit, after energizing a strong power, that is, a parallel circuit, for only the necessary time depending on the room temperature. Since it is energized, you won't experience discomfort such as feeling cold, and it can automatically switch from high to low, eliminating the inconvenience of having to manually switch from high to low while driving. In addition, from a design perspective, it is no longer necessary to design a heater unit for each seat to which it is installed, as was the case in the past, and by sharing the heater unit, design man-hours can be significantly reduced.

Furthermore, since a thermostat is inconvenient in the heater unit, not only can the heater unit be simplified, but it is also possible to share the heater unit for the seat and back.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a circuit diagram of a seat heater device showing an embodiment of the present invention, Fig. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a heater unit is attached to a seat, and Fig. 3 is a circuit diagram of a conventional seat heater device. , FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a conventional heat unit. 1...seat, 2...seat, 3...back, 4,
5, 9, 10... Heater unit, 11, 11'
... Relay, 12 ... Timer circuit, 13 ... Temperature detection element, 15 ... Control circuit section.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. A heater unit attached to the seat portion of the seat;
It consists of a heater unit attached to the back, a relay that electrically switches these two heater units in parallel and series, and a control circuit that outputs a signal to this relay.This control circuit section detects the room temperature. A vehicle seat heater device that includes a detection element and a timer circuit whose time is determined by a signal from the temperature detection element.